On BS and Lying: Is There a Difference?

Join us for a discussion on BS and lying, drawing from Harry Frankfurt's "On Bullshit" and Sam Harris's "Lying", as we explore the space between truth and deception and why we navigate it every single day.

Frankfurt argues that BS is worse than lying. A liar at least respects the truth enough to carefully work around it. The BSer doesn't care whether what they say is true or false, and that indifference is what makes it dangerous. Harris takes the other side of the coin, making the case that even small, well-intentioned lies corrode trust and steal people's ability to make informed decisions. Together, the two essays raise a question worth sitting with: if we all lie daily — to be polite, to protect feelings, to avoid conflict — what does honesty actually look like in practice?

In this discussion we'll work through the personal, the systemic, and the philosophical. We'll start with the small lies we tell to protect feelings, move into the bigger lies we accept to keep society running, and end with what Frankfurt and Harris actually argue in their essays.

Questions to consider:
Is BS worse than lying?
When does a white lie become a real one?
Is lying by omission still lying?
Do we owe each other the full truth, or just enough of it to get by?
Is there such a thing as a partial truth?
And what happens to a society built on agreements we all know aren't entirely honest?

All are welcome and no reading is required! We'll use the essays as a jumping-off point for a larger conversation about truth, trust, and the lies we've all agreed to live with.